


I'm not a hero

by MaximumSnow



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Genre: Ciela - Freeform, Gen, She's mentioned a few times but I didn't think it was enough to tag her as a character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:28:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27771532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaximumSnow/pseuds/MaximumSnow
Summary: A sort of rewrite of the build up to and the final battle in Phantom Hourglass but from Linebeck's perspective.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	I'm not a hero

When this whole arrangement started, Linebeck was to take the kid wherever he wanted, and he’d get some treasure out of the hunt for the ghost ship.

After the ghost ship was revealed to be a ruse to lure in victims, he tried to leave. Entities that feasted on the life force of minor gods in addition to any people they happened to trap was not what he had signed up to deal with. Someone more foolhardy could take up his position as overglorified transport.

If asked, he’d take them back to land, but given Oshus’ abilities, they didn’t _really_ need him.

He had to turn away to avoid looking at the hurt look on the kid’s face. It wasn’t Linebeck’s fault that Link’s friend had fallen into the trap and was now a statue, but the danger involved was too much for him.

Hell, it was too much for a kid. There was a passing thought that maybe without a boat, Link would accept that something irreversible had happened and make Oshus look for someone older than Link and braver than Linebeck.

But Oshus knew him too well.

A wish. A blank check for anything Linebeck could ever want.

…. The kid was going to do this with or without him, wasn’t he? Might as well help him along.

Link was the better dungeon crawler, and he never saw a reason to change their arrangement. Linebeck could ensure the boat was fixed after any excursion, and they both knew he would be a liability in a fight.

The kid had proven himself enough for Linebeck to trust in his ability to take care of himself, and with the fairies keeping an eye out, he rarely had reason for concern.

Rarely.

* * *

_I’m not supposed to be here._

The thought kept playing on repeat as Bellum shattered the remains of the ghost ship and knocked over the mast which crashed onto Linebeck’s ship with Oshus still on it.

He was now standing on barely connected planks, with Tetra _and_ Link in Bellum’s grasp. The kid’s grip on the Phantom Sword loosened and the blade landed not too far from where Linebeck and Ciela were looking on in horror.

The movement startled him out of his horrified daze, and he quickly glanced between the sword and Bellum.

The largest eye was flickering between the two children as if it was trying to decide who to savor first. Tetra was still unconscious and hanging limply, and Link was struggling as best he could with his arms bound to his sides.

Linebeck went against everything his instincts screamed at him to do, and picked up the sword. He had never handled a sword like this one, and it had clearly been made with a smaller person in mind.

It didn’t stop him from clumsily jabbing it through the eye of the tentacle hanging in front of him.

His knees nearly gave out on him when the beast turned its eye towards him, but despite his visible tremors, he stood tall.

He pulled the sword out and swung it again, and this caused Bellum to fling Link and Tetra away from it as it tried to deal with the nuisance he was making of himself.

He kept swinging as Ciela tried to wake the kid, and when he thought he saw Link sit up, he shouted and tried to run over to him.

It was a fatal mistake.

He realized this as a tentacle grabbed his arms, and he tried to struggle away from the creature as it latched more tentacles onto him and pulled its body closer. He knew a losing battle when he saw one.

As a last ditch effort, he had to get the sword to Link. No matter what happened to Linebeck, Link needed a way to fight back. Yanking his arm back, he threw the sword, and the kid somersaulted in midair as he grabbed it.

It was such a show off move, but in that moment, Linebeck couldn’t be more relieved.

The fear returned as Bellum eyed him up and down before it made some sort of decision.

The pain and pressure on his back was unexpected and dropped him to his knees, and his thoughts could only focus on how much it hurt. It felt like a sword had driven itself deep into his back and along his spine, and it pulsed with his heartbeat.

Why was it so slow?

A foreign hunger that felt _wrong_ invaded his mind and everything started to go foggy. He could barely string two thoughts together as something that wasn’t him commanded his body to get to its feet. Standing far taller than he ever had as a human, he looked down at Link.

The kid looked so small. But the new puppeteer pulling his strings wanted the child dead, and Linebeck couldn’t fight the control.

“Link...” He couldn’t finish what he wanted to say before a weighty helmet covered his face.

_I’m sorry._

He could only watch as his arm swung a huge blade around with more skill than he ever possessed. His legs carried him towards Link no matter where the kid ran, and always kept the armored front facing Link.

He blocked attack after attack from Link, and even if he missed, the heavy armor blocked anything the kid could land.

Link couldn’t keep this up forever, but despite all the movement, Linebeck felt no tiredness in his own numb limbs.

The control fumbled for a brief second when Ciela fluttered behind him, and Bellum opened its main eye as it used one of its tentacles to grab her.

It wasn’t enough for him to do anything but… It did give him a faint idea. He had to keep that idea hidden from the entity invading his mind, but it was thoroughly distracted by Link continuing to come at him with failed attacks. The thoughts of the being who had no control of this situation weren’t very high on its priority list.

Especially since every now and then, the attack would drop him to his knees, and it would let Ciela release a small burst of power.

After a few seconds, he finally spiked his thoughts with a feeling of unease. _I can’t see behind me, what’s going on?_

The entity never turned his head. It wanted him to _watch_ what happened to Link and keep him in sight at all times.

Instead it opened its main eye just make sure there was nothing back there.

Ciela yelled something, and in an instant, he could feel a distant pain as Bellum took damage.

_Smart kid._

He had to be careful with repeating the process, but without fail, at some point, Bellum would give in to his fake paranoia, and have to check.

The fight kept going and going, and with each meeting of their blades, the entity was getting more desperate.

Link was also getting tired. The kid’s heavy breathing was audible even through the armored helmet.

He didn’t even have to fake fear to spike his muddied thoughts. The fear of him killing this kid flooded through him, and Bellum opened its eye on reflex.

The last mistake it needed to make.

The hold on his mind and body suddenly disappeared along with the armor, and he collapsed forward.

_Good job, kid._

**Author's Note:**

> Idk, I just wanted to think on what was going on in our resident coward's head when he decided to stab Bellum. I may come back later and do more with the aftermath because that look of horror as he looked at his own hands later was great, but this was mostly written for the stabbing scene. 
> 
> Hello game that stole my heart thirteen years ago, why are you coming back now ajlskfa.


End file.
